Kerry come back - John Kerry is trying to get back to basics

[papau]

http://www.boston.com/news/politics/president/kerry/articles/2003/10/31/can_kerry_bounce_back_in_nh/

Can Kerry bounce back in N.H.?
By Scot Lehigh, 10/31/2003

…Perhaps. But thus far, Dean's sharper message, his blunt, matter-of-fact manner, and his status as non-Washingtonian have struck a more resonant chord in iconoclastic New Hampshire. So much so that some perceptive politicos wonder if Kerry, with his qualified, caveated stances and a speaking style that is ever prone to lapsing into Washington Baroque, is even capable of bouncing back. <snip>


http://www.mlive.com/newsflash/michigan/index.ssf?/newsflash/get_story.ssf?/cgi-free/getstory_ssf.cgi?g9771_BC_MI--Kerry-TheBasics&&news&newsflash-michigan

Kerry tries to improve campaign basics By RON FOURNIER

John Kerry is trying to get back to basics...that means hitting the phones to court activists and fund-raisers, softening his style, sharpening his rhetoric, becoming more disciplined and less thin-skinned -- stop faulting his staff and change his ways. Boiling it down: Democrats say Kerry cannot expect the nomination to be handed to him; he has to work for it.

They have seen some improvement. "He's a talented guy with all the credentials, but he's not done the job on the basic blocking and tackling that go into a presidential campaign," said Democratic strategist Jim Duffy of Washington.<snip>

"If he has any hopes of winning Arizona and the nomination, he's got to get out and do the things good candidates do -- press the flesh and talk to people," Arizona party chairman Jim Pederson said.<snip>

But Kerry has gotten better in recent weeks. He has not talked about campaign tactics or staff woes. His criticism of rivals Dean and Wesley Clark is forceful. Though he is still trying to distill his position on Iraq, Kerry has become as good as any of his rivals at working a crowd -- patting voters on the back and trading jokes.
<snip>

[La_Serpiente]

1. If Kerry has any chance of winning the nomination

NOW is the time.

[xchrom]

2. back to basics = back to people

the average citizens are just looking for someone who doesn't sell them out.
but as long as average citizens go along with the notion that corporate money is cool in political campaigns -- then our future is already written.
i like kerry -- i like dean -- i like alot of our dem candidates. i wish kerry the very best with his campaign.

[NewYorkerfromMass]

3. Kerry can't lose NH

and I am very optimistic that he will turn it around.

[helleborient]

4. 11 points behind in Iowa...more than that in NH...

Single digits in SC...waiting for the Kerry rush....

The venom from his supporters toward Dean (and his supporters - according to the subject line of one of the latest threads, we're blatant hypocrites) is in abundant evidence here at DU...too bad it doesn't seem to translate to support on the ground.

[cindyw]

5. Don't forget that both Clinton and gore fell behind their oponents

in these states at this same time. The race is wide open for at least a little while.

[Name removed]

6. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[cindyw]

7. You mean like calling people Bush-Lite

Worst than mother F***er in my opinion. I also have not seen Kerry call his opponents names. Kerry supporters match the Dean supporters in name calling sure, but it's we are not what matters. Otherwise both our candidates are screwed.

[Meshuga]

12. Comparing DC Democrats to cockroaches doesn't

help Dean's case either. People claim that people bash Dean because he is the front runner. Who could have no support at all but I's still be pissed at him for saying this kind of shit that seems only to divide the party.

[LuminousX]

23. Obviously Rep Jesse Jackson Jr. knew who Dean was addressing with that

[Meshuga]

11. Kerry is gaining support and I'm an example of that!

I confess that I'm not following the campaign as long as most here and so far I like Kerry a lot and he seems to be the best candidate after doing a lot of research. I'm playing the catching up game, I confess, and so far I'm liking Kerry and Edwards a lot! I also like Kucinich and I'm respecting Sharpton and CMB a lot more than before. Sharpton mostly because I grew up in NJ and the NYC media for some reason painted Sharpton as a pain in the ass camera whore. But all I have to say is that I have a lot of respect for him. Sharpton says a lot of truths but he seems to not be taken seriously because he is Sharpton. I'm not saying this is true. it's just my perception.

From interviews, debates, speeches, etc so far I think Kerry is the one who seems to be the best candidate to go head to head with Bush but I guess the only thing in his way is the IWR vote.

The IWR vote is the cause Kerry is not the favorite and that seems to be the reason why Dean is leading the polls otherwise he wouldn't "exist".

The only candidate who can really say that was against the war resolution is Kucinich. Kucinich, BTW, is the only candidate who diserves to win the nomination over opposing the IWR because he was the only candidate who voted againt it. And I don't know if this is just a perception but here in DU the Kucinich people seems to mind Kerry's IWR vote a whole lot less than the Dean supporters. Why is that?

When Dean-mania began I was really excited to find a pissed off Democrat who wouldn't take shit from GW Bush. Dean seemed to be the guy with balls to fight Bush and lead the party. But so far I'm really confused on his positions and all I see is vagueness.

If I question Dean and I want to see his position (by asking questions here in DU) I get a lot of defensiveness from the Dean supporters and complains stating that it's Dean bashing. I'm going to be fair by not generalizing all Dean supporters because I met a lot of great Dean supporters here who were very helpful.

The two candidates that I would love to like are Dean and Clark. Dean more than Clark because Dean might really win the nomination and if he does I would like to be able to support him and celebrate the nomination. But so far I see a man who flip flops and a very vague candidate.

Vagueness helped Arnold win California and vagueness (plus the IWR resolution vote) might help Dean win the nomination. But vagueness plus cranckyness plus raising taxes plus national defense inexperience are going to hurt him in November of 2004. We can't have that!

Dean people: Please help me see the light and I promise to keep an open mind. :-)

[NewYorkerfromMass]

13. Kucinich supporters recognize and resepect Kerry's liberalism

which is why they don't bash him on IWR. Whereas Dean couldn't find a liberal position if it hit him on the head. BTW I am looking at Edwards as a 2nd choice to my top guy- Kerry.

Thanks for a good post and welcome to DU!

[helleborient]

14. So confused as to why Edwards is your 2nd choice then?

His liberalism????? Why isn't Kucinich, Braun, or Sharpton your 2nd choice if you're concerned about liberalism?

[cindyw]

16. You have given a very reasoned

explanation of why so many of us like Kerry. I also think that Dean would not be the front runner if it were not for the IWR. Also Dean is better at articulating a liberal point of view than Kerry. You have to listen for longer than a sentence to understand his positions. The problem I have had is that in issue after issue, Dean is not a liberal and I am tiring of politicians who rely on rhetoric to win election rather than a career of action on certain issues. This why after all the research I choose Kerry. With Bush as vulnerable as he is, I would rather choose the candidate I see as the best president than the one with the best rhetoric.

[NewYorkerfromMass]

17. How can Dean be better at articulating a liberal point of view?

when he is not a liberal? I am confused.

[cindyw]

29. Assuming you may or may not be kidding.

I feel that Dean's rhetoric often leads people to believe that he is more liberal than he is. I base this on the fact that many liberal people I know have been impressed by seeing him speak and then choose to support people like Kerry or Kucinich, when they do some more research.

[loyalsister]

28. "Rhetoric"

is what wins elections. It's the ads stupid. AND it's why Kerry is not the great candidate people make him out to be. One "strength" the intellectual Dems love him most for is his greatest weakness when he hits the midwest and the south.
I don't think he is going to relate to ordinary people as well as Dean can and more importantly as well as Bush fakes it. Dean spent his medical career fostering interpersonal relationships with people of all walks of life. He knows how to instantly translate "jargon" - medical AND political. Kerry goes way over people's heads when he speaks, and MANY will resent it. People want a president who they can relate to easily and comfortably. The easiest way to find out if that's possible is by listening to the rhetoric. It's a learned skill.
The question is will it take more than a primary campaign cycle for Kerry to learn how to extend his rhetoric beyond Massachusetts?

[cindyw]

30. Rhetoric not message

b. Language that is elaborate, pretentious, insincere, or intellectually vacuous: His offers of compromise were mere rhetoric.

I went to a university where some professors talked way over your head and they were excessively pompus. Kerry is no where near these people. I understand him just fine. We have to stop trying to speak to the for the intellectually challenged. WE SHOULD TREAT AMERICANS AS THE INTELLIGENT PEOPLE THEY CAN BE. I also think it is a myth that Kerry cannot relate to the average person.

[loyalsister]

31. The education demographics are far and wide

and I really think people who are not as educated as many of us should be more respected than many people here want to show.

"I understand him just fine."
What is your education level?

"We have to stop trying to speak to the for the intellectually challenged."
What does "intellectually challenged" mean to you?
Intellectual ability has nothing to do with it. Language used should be as basic as possible, and since there is no education requirement to vote the language must reach persons with the lowest education level.
Since very abstract words have more meanings, it is less likely the usage will be meaningful.
How often are their discussion here regarding intended meaning in a candidates speech? This doesn't happen amongst persons lacking in intellect. In fact, it becomes a problem for people who are very intelligent. They will clash and debate the "true meaning" of what was said endlessly, when it is impossible to determine without considerable clarification from the speaker. Kerry has to do this entirely too much. Average people don't have time to follow every clarification. Look at how difficult it is for him to present a understandable, inarguable presentation of his position on the war.

[blm]

25. this is a great post.

I appreciate your forthrightness and the fact that you bothered to research all the candidates and their records. I agree that Kerry's record and support of policies hold up the best under that close scrutiny.

[Rose Siding]

8. He should have done that 6 months ago

And why wouldn't he have been able to figure that out?

[blm]

9. Scott Lehigh is a rightwinger. His columns always attack Kerry.

He uses all the memes about Kerry that have been fed by Segretti and Rove over the years.

[killbotfactory]

10. Kerry polls worse than everybody, except Kucinich, in SC

And he announced there.

Clark - 17 (7)
Edwards - 10 (16)
Lieberman - 8 (7)
Gephardt - 7 (5)
Dean - 7 (6)
Braun - 5 (4)
Sharpton - 5 (5)
Kerry - 4 (5)
Kucinich - 1 (1)
UNDECIDED - 36 (42)

http://americanresearchgroup.com/sc/

[polpilot]

15. Pacing...pacing...Kerry does better when he's last. He's just pacing.....

Dean '04..Outpacing.

[DrFunkenstein]

19. You're Absolutely Right

The 1996 Senate campaign between John Kerry and William Weld was the rarest of events in latter-day American politics: a civil, closely contested, intelligent, and wildly entertaining brawl. "Both candidates were incredibly popular," the Kerry consultant John Marttila said. "Both had sixty-per-cent favorable ratings, and negatives in the twenties. And they maintained their popularity throughout the race."

Both were Brahmins, but Weld, with a shock of strawberry hair and irony to burn, seemed an honorary Hibernian-once again, Kerry was faced with an opponent bound to be favored by the reportorial romantics at the Boston Globe. "We were both comers," recalls Weld, who had just been reelected governor, with seventy-one per cent of the vote. "We were both at the height of our powers. If I'd won that race, I was going to turn straight around and run for President in 2000. I think he was, too-although I guess he eventually decided that Gore had too big a head start."

The campaign began with a remarkable agreement to limit campaign spending, negotiated face to face by the two candidates in Kerry's Beacon Hill mansion. They also agreed to a series of eight debates, some of which would be Lincoln-Douglas style, with the two candidates questioning each other directly, without a mediator. Weld figured that his issues-crime, welfare reform, and tax cutting-and his charm would see him through, but mostly his charm. "John isn't really a cold person, but he does seem aloof," Weld said recently. "The truth is that he's courtly to the point of gentility. We were pummelling him through August, but his campaign turned on a dime when Bob Shrum was hired as his consultant. It went from flaccid to sharp in a week."

Kerry's aides insist that it was more than Shrum. They say that Kerry was distracted in Washington, that he didn't really focus on the campaign until the Senate recessed. "It wasn't a lack of focus," Kerry says. "It was a strategy. I figured people wouldn't really be paying attention until the fall debates."

The last four debates were fabulous political theatre-two very smart men having at each other. "John's at his best under pressure, when he's being seriously challenged," Paul Nace, an old Navy friend, says. "He gets really cool, very calm. He really is a warrior-he just loves it. I took one look at him as he was walking into Faneuil Hall for one of the last debates and I thought, Bill Weld has no idea what's about to hit him."

Weld-who calls the debates a "bloody draw"-says that Kerry successfully attached him to the national Republican Party. (Weld had said some embarrassingly positive things about Newt Gingrich two years earlier.) "The turning point came when he asked me if I'd vote to keep Jesse Helms as the chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. That was a killer."

I asked Weld how he responded. "I ducked it, of course," he said, with a smile. "I mean, I hated Jesse Helms. But what could I do?"

Kerry won the election by eight percentage points. "John has always been underestimated politically," Marttila says. "But that race had the quality and intensity of a Presidential campaign, and he won. I don't see how they can underestimate him anymore, but they probably will."

[helleborient]

20. Dr. F...have you noticed the favorability ratings...

Of both Dean and Kerry are about the same in New Hampshire?

[DrFunkenstein]

21. I Tell You What I Would Honestly Love

A two-man debate between Dean and Kerry. No name-calling or any of that cheap crap. Just getting down on the get down - bring it straight to the issues.

3 debates:

One on Iraq (of course), the war on terror, and foreign policy.
One on the economy.
One free-for-all.

[helleborient]

22. I'd be happy for it...

But why leave out the other candidates?

Are you afraid of the other 7 candidates?

[DrFunkenstein]

32. One On One - I Don't Think Anyone Can Beat Kerry

And he's been getting much stronger at the 9 candidate format, actually. Confident, funny, gets in a stinging jab here and there. Not bad for 10 minutes out of an hour and a half.

I'd just like to see a good, clean Kerry/Dean brawl. I'd definitely videotape that!

[Lady President]

26. DOMA vote in 1996

I had to add that despite the fact that Kerry was at serious risk of losing his Senate seat in '96 he still voted against DOMA (the Defense of Marriage Act). He was one of only 14 Dem. Senators to vote against this gay bashing legislation and the only one who was up for reelection. Just another example of how Kerry will not cave to the right even at the risk of losing an election.

[LuminousX]

24. 88 days for Kerry to catch up

I do expect the polls to tighten as the primary approaches.

[polpilot]

27. IF Dean is within 10 pts. of the leader then he's the winner. If he wins

it's a bonafide revolution. The 1 per center of Jan. 03 is leading a TRUE REVOLUTION in America.

Dean '04...The Revolutionist!!

[DrFunkenstein]

33. Gee, Don't Set The Bar Too Low or Anything

Revolutionist? ...Revolutionary?

[George_Bonanza]

34. Sad

Dean the revolutionist? That's a stretch. Certainly, he has set the mark on money-making. But that's it. Do you think he's going to make America socialist or something? Ha!

[DrFunkenstein]

18. Kerry Has Definitely Gotten Healthier And Sharper, But...

Some of this stuff is BS.

"But Kerry has gotten better in recent weeks. He has not talked about campaign tactics or staff woes. His criticism of rivals Dean and Wesley Clark is forceful. Though he is still trying to distill his position on Iraq, Kerry has become as good as any of his rivals at working a crowd -- patting voters on the back and trading jokes."

1. There was one mention of a staff shake up around the time of his announcement, and the media replayed the story 3 different times in the following weeks. Lehane is out, and there is no other shake ups in the works.

2. Kerry's position has always been as clear as 2+3 (which is 5, I think). He voted to authorize the use of force (as with his support of Clinton), but laid out clear rationales and methods that would garner his support. He made it clear that any deviation would be met with vocal resistance, and he lived up to that. It was an argument I fully understood, but didn't agree with. But I have clearly made my peace with that, and believe his plan then was the best one, and his vision now is by far the most forward-looking.

The media, on the other hand, continue the pretence that they are more idiotic than the general public and cannot fathom that Kerry held beliefs about Iraq that don't fit into the neat binary of "yes and no" or "pro- and anti-."

3. Anyone who has been following Kerry, knows that he excels at low-level campaigning. Here is a guy who has never accepted a PAC contribution, but has somehow - for all his supposed aloofness - managed to be elected to the Senate four times. He made stand a little stiff when he delivers a floor speech, but if you've seen him on Road To The Whitehouse, you know this guy can connect with an audience.